EEC Filing Confirms Five Mysterious New iPads Are Coming Soon

A recent regulatory filing suggests that a new slate of iPads could be coming sooner than expected this year.

Apple registered a total of five unreleased iPad models with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) on Wednesday, as first spotted by Indian blog MySmartPrice. All of the iPads are listed as running iPadOS software version 13. The model numbers include:

A2068

A2197

A2198

A2228

A2230

It isn’t clear what specific upcoming iPads those model numbers are associated with, but there are some pending refreshes in Apple’s tablet lineup.

2019 iPad Pro Lineup

For example, Apple is largely expected to release new iPad Pro models this year or early next. Renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasted back in May that two new iPad Pro models would enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2019 or the first quarter of 2020.

While it isn’t clear where CoinX gets his or her information, the leaker has an impressive track record of sourcing accurate information.

The 9.7-inch iPad was released back in March 2018, so Apple is a bit behind on its entry-level release schedule. It’s possible that the company could debut a new 10.2-inch iPad sometime over the summer. That may be more likely than a release alongside new iPad Pros.

Besides a larger display, it isn’t clear what new features the 10.2-inch could have. It’s probably safe to expect a faster processor and other incremental upgrades, however.

EEC filings

In any case, we do know that new iPads are coming thanks to the EEC filings. Apple is required to register any new devices with encryption sold in Russia and other countries with the EEC, and similar filings have foreshadowed iPadreleases in the past.